At 7:43 a.m. eastern time three trikes took off from Indiana's Benton county in calm
air and chilly temps (27 degrees). Joe was in the lead position with all 16 birds.
As he gained altitude and made a slow sweeping turn to bring the cranes on course,
15 of them broke away. Now the game is on! Chase pilot Brooke moved in to lead this
large group, while Joe carried on with the one bird that stuck with him. Richard
and Bill circled overhead, ready to move into position in needed. Then one bird dropped
off from Brooke's group. Richard quickly maneuvered his aircraft into position in
front of the dropout.

Brooke kept going with 14 birds, flying at a slightly lower altitude than Joe.
But as they approached Joe's lead trike, all of Brooke's birds decided to veer right
and climb to re-join the single crane off Joe's right wingtip! That put Brooke back
in his starting position as chase pilot. At last all the birds appeared satisfied.
They were rewarded with air as smooth as glass. After 1 hour and 13 minutes, they
everyone landed in Boone county, Indiana with another 48.3 miles logged on the journey
south!

You may remember that the bird flying closest to the wing gets the easiest flight
because it gets the most lift, from the wake of air as it rolls off the large wing
of the ultralight. Listen to OM pilot Deke Clark explain it in this audio clip, then
write a short paragraph describing how the plane aids the cranes in their flying.
Start your paragraph with a clear topic sentence that tells what your paragraph is
about. Include only sentences that support the topic sentence.